Beneath present-day Hard Labor Church in Chipley, researchers found a lost 17th-century Spanish mission while looking into a different part of Florida's past.
They had been trying to identify a Civil War battlefield when signs of the long-missing Mission of San Carlos emerged instead.
What happened?
According to MyPanhandle, historians placed the mission at about 1674 or 1675 — roughly 100 years before the Declaration of Independence and nearly 350 years ago.
Researchers had long believed the mission was somewhere in Washington County, west of Marianna, but its exact location had remained unknown.
"There was a Spanish mission here in 1674, 1675," historian Dale Cox said, per MyPanhandle.
"Researchers have always known that it was somewhere west of Marianna, but no one ever really knew where."
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According to Cox, the find grew out of an archaeological effort sponsored by a nonprofit with which he is affiliated to find a Civil War battlefield. During the process, Spanish artifacts were discovered.
"And since there are no other recorded Spanish settlements in this entire stretch of West Florida between about Marianna and Pensacola, you know, we knew we had found the lost mission," he added.
The team later used ground-penetrating radar to detect what appeared to be around 20 grave sites. Those areas were left undisturbed.
Why does it matter?
Historical records point to Mission San Carlos as the site of a Native American uprising against Spanish friars, and Cox estimated that close to 200 people once lived there.
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The finding provides further evidence of what happened centuries ago, which could inform future conservation and protection efforts.
What's being done?
After receiving $50,000 in state funding, the project now has the resources to continue excavating once the paperwork is complete and cooler weather arrives.
The next objective is to locate the mission's central buildings.
"We would love to find the traces of the chapel, which was, of course, the central structure of a mission," Cox said, per MyPanhandle. "We have found artifacts from both cultures, from Spanish and from Native Americans. So we would really like to find that chapel so we can be, you know, at the center of the mission community."
Cox said the team hopes some of the artifacts recovered in the next excavation can eventually be shown in local museums.
"When you hear about the founding of America, you always hear about the Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock," Cox observed. "People forget that Spain was here, you know, almost 200 years before that. There are so many layers of history here. And I think it's really important to get back to those very early days and remember."
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